Colapinto on the fastest lap that got away: “We were flying…”

Colapinto put in another charging performance in Austin

Franco Colapinto continued to impress his Williams team and the whole Formula 1 paddock by securing 10^th place and a priceless point from 15^th on the grid in Austin after running a long opening stint on the hard tyres.

He also held the fastest lap bonus point for a while with a time set in normal racing conditions before Alpine gave new tyres to Esteban Ocon in the closing laps in a successful effort to take it off the Williams driver.

Nevertheless it was another good weekend for the Argentinian, who was as high as eighth in SQ2, only to have a spin in SQ3 and then a frustrating run to 12^th in the sprint itself.

“It was a very tough Saturday for us,” he said when asked by this writer about his weekend. “And I think we knew that we had the pace in the car to be strong, and to do a good race.

“That’s why I decided to start on the hard, to have a bit of clean air. I thought maybe was not ideal, but I knew that having the pace we had, it was going to be better for us, to really have that pace in the clean air, and do the jump on the track.

“When we were in clean air on the cars, we were really strong. And then once we put the mediums, we were flying.

“So it was great to see how we bounced back today and how we came back stronger after a very difficult day yesterday. It was a tough Saturday for the team, but they deserve the point of today, and they worked hard for it.”

Colapinto was philosophical about losing the fastest lap point to a clever move by Alpine.

“I think I did it many laps earlier on an older tyre, and I think we just had much better pace than them,” he said. “They just had to put a new set with low fuel to try to take it from us. I think they weren’t close to us in terms of pace.

“But look, it’s part of racing. I was happy for the fastest lap, and I wanted to keep it, but it’s fine. We had it for a while. It’s a point that we lost, but I’m sure that we are going to recover it soon.

“We had a good car, and we are capable of scoring points, so we’re going to come back stronger I’m sure.”

Colapinto admitted that he had much to learn during his first F1 sprint weekend.

“It was busy, you get quite burned out,” he said. “And it’s something I need to monitor a bit more, the timings I need to manage a bit more, the free times, and try to be a bit more relaxed in the moments that I can be, because it is very busy.

“You are under a lot of pressure all the time, and just need to try and understand how to manage a bit better in Brazil. But I think was a good experience to try and learn first of course here in Austin, and be stronger in Brazil.”

He is looking forward to racing in front of a Spanish-speaking crowd for the first time in Mexico this weekend.

“It’s going to be amazing,” he said. “Of course, they have Checo there, but I know that there will be Argentinians. Here this weekend it was insane. When we were moving on the truck, and doing the lap, everyone was like ‘how there are so many Argentinians? What’s happening?’

“And they were like, ‘Franco, Franco!’. It was very impressive, very nice to see. James [Vowles] is a bit worried. He says, ‘Take care, take care.’  It’s just a lot of things, and you’re racing, and you have a lot of pressure.

“I’m going to try to show how much I care to the fans to be there, and I’m going to enjoy, of course, my first race in Brazil, but also Mexico this weekend.”